Codex: Ork Fleets
by CALiGeR190
Summary: Everything you need to know about ork fleets.
1. Ork Strike Craft

**Ork Strike Craft**  
 _Ramshackle Aces_

 **Ork Fighta**

Length: N/A

Wingspan: N/A

Crew: 1 Ork, undetermined number of Grots and/or Squigs

Sunlight engine: Varies

Power supply: Varies

Standard Armament: N/A

Warp Capable: No

Lore: The umbrella term given to all Ork fighters that are capable only as fighter craft.  
They are generally capable of atmospheric and Void combat (although more often than not are equally as terrible in both environments) and can have vastly varied armaments, size, speed and protection: but they can be generalised. Most Ork Fightas have their noses crammed with as many high calibre Autocannons and powerful Zzap cannons as the Orks can fit onto the chassis, sticking more onto the Wings until it is only barely flight worthy. The craft then has armour haphazardly bolted, welded or sometimes just dented on with strategically placed punching and hammer blows as they can possibly fit.

The now rather wonky and thrown-together creation is an Ork Fighta.  
Given the way that each craft can be so different from one another, it is impossible to make a size estimation, but they are generally quite stubby and fat due to all the armour bolted onto it and heavy ammo it is carrying. Mostly only piloted by the proud owner of the Fighta in question, but sometimes may have grots on board for mid-flight reloads if they weren't fortunate or didn't have the 'teef' to afford actual ammo feeds.

The only 'redeeming' value to these are that they are extremely numerous. Even the smallest Ork carriers somehow finding space crammed inside for anything up to a hundred of these in haphazard and non-uniform swarm-like craft. Orks liking to launch all of their strike craft at once, not understanding tactics and strategy very well. These swarms only get larger with more Ork ships and larger carriers, making them a deadly threat and extreme annoyance to opposing carrier operations.

 **Ork Fighta-Bommer**

Length: N/A

Wingspan: N/A

Crew: 2 Orks, undetermined number of Grots and/or Squigs

Sunlight engine: Varies

Power supply: Varies

Standard Armament: N/A

Warp Capable: No

Lore: The umbrella term for Ork Fighters that can double in the anti-shipping role.  
For an Ork, no better craft exists. They provide the savage joy of dakka and speed of the Fighta, and combine it with the deadly explosives of the Bommer. Everything a budding Ork 'pilot' enthusiast could ever want in one strike craft, thus many Fighta owners strive to tinker and upgrade there Fighta craft until it reaches the point where it can be called a Fighta-Bommer, and most Fightas inevitably become Fighta-Bommers.

Same as the Fighta, they double in the atmospheric and Void combat role; and are equally as haphazard and generally terrible in the fighter role. The main difference these have from the Fightas is that they are normally noticeably larger (although still so varied it's hard to generalise) to accommodate room for crude bombs and rockets. These making them equally terrible as bombers.

They normally have a crew of two Orks, a rear gunner/bombardier and the pilot (optional grots also coming along or getting 'accidently' caught up in its gears as stowaways).  
Again, like all Ork Strike Craft, their only real advantage is numbers. It being quite normal for most carriers to deploy hundreds of them at once.

 **Ork Bommer**

Length: N/A

Wingspan: N/A

Crew: Varies

Sunlight engine: Varies

Power supply: Varies

Standard Armament: N/A

Warp Capable: No

Lore: The Ork Bommers, and all their variants, are massive even by bomber standards.  
The huge craft are varied, like all Ork craft, beyond what can be reasonably generalised but there are three variants that are distinguished from each other by the Orks: the Bommer, the Eavy Bommer (like as pictured) and the Blasta Bommer. All generally characterised by a ridiculously heavy armament of guns of all sizes and types and a massive armament of missiles and bombs.

The Bommer is the smallest and quickest, but none are by any means small or fast as most are around the size and dimensions of StarHawks.

The Eavy Bommer is more of a giant flying fortress than a strike craft. It barely moves, but can throw up a flack wall that can put some smaller warships to shame and has a payload that can crack open even the largest of ships.

The Blasta Bommer, which forgoes bombs and missiles to make room for a massive gun that you would normally find batteries of on the broadsides of a Lite Krooza or on the prow of an Ork escort. Of course such a weapon is prone to failure, and as much a danger to the strike craft firing as it is to whatever is on the receiving end.

Normally not as many of these are carried by Ork carriers as the Fightas and Fighta bommers, a limitation of their immense size, but the vast swarms are normally pock-marked with enough Bommers of all shapes and sizes, making them an immense danger to any warship facing them.

 _(Before anyone asks, Orks don't really have assault craft. They just strap themselves to whatever flies in order to board ships.)_


	2. Ork Escorts

**Ork Escorts**  
 _Brutal Menace_

 **Brute Class Ram Ship**

Size: 1.1 KM long, 0.5 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: 3-5 g

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: 1 Gunz Battery, Power-ram (all frontally mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: N/A

Lore: If a ship more orky than the Brute exists, it has not yet been documented by the Imperium.  
The Brute is, as its name implies, brutally simple and simply brutal. The ship features very light armament for an Ork ship, with only a single relatively light weapon battery as a primary ranged armament, but this ship is not designed as a traditional escort but as a ship-sized ramming device.

The ship has a large powered ram dominating its prow section, making up approximately 50% of the ships mass, and a rear section dominated by a vast series of very powerful engines capable of propelling the ship at very high rates of acceleration of 10g or more in short bursts. This combination meaning the ship can quite easily plow through the armour of even the largest and toughest of battleships and deal crippling blows to stations and warships that would otherwise be immune to the attacks of a ship of this size.

Such is there lethality that they are a priority target for anyone with even the slightest knowledge of Ork vessels, making such a ship suicidal to crew. But the Orks hardly seem to care, as vast swarms are found wherever an Ork fleet is located.

 **Onslaught Class Attack Ship**

Size: 1.6 KM long, 0.6 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: 2-3 g

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: 3 Gunz Batterys (frontally mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: N/A

Lore: These warships are the most common of any Ork warship present during an attack. Ugly, slow, and difficult to manoeuvre; they need these numbers to stand any hope of having an impact.

Its armour is a hodge-podge of poorly armoured rear and side sections, but a prow section dominated by huge slabs of armour bolted and welded across its entire front, and slanted back at steep angles to resemble that of a giant predatory fish head. This makes the ship easy to kill when flanked, but nightmarish difficult to destroy during a head-on attack. To compliment this, the ship features a large number of weapon batteries for an escort, all facing forward, making this ships role fairly obvious as a light assault ship.

However, due to its poor mobility, this very rarely means they are any good as escorts. Being easily outclassed by the Sword Class frigate, but it is a foolish captain indeed who underestimates a horde of Onslaught Attack ships in a head-on attack.

 **Savage Class Gunship**

Size: 1.6 KM long, 0.6 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: 2-3 g

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: 2 Heavy Gunz Batterys (frontally mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: N/A

Lore: The savage is effectively an onslaught, but with much heavier firepower.  
The ship is equipped with 2 (or more) Heavy weapon batteries, that would typically only be found on capital ships, fixed into its nose. These weapons hold extreme destructive power, able to smash apart anything unfortunate enough to hit by its massive shells in a matter of moments. Combined with the high frontal armour, this makes the ship a deadly foe to slow and less manoeuvrable foes who cannot escape its frontal kill-zone.

However, the ship is still appallingly slow for an escort, and doesn't turn quickly. Combined with the short effective range of Ork weapons and the poor side and rear protection making this ship vulnerable target practice for more nimble foes. But when used in ambushes, or vast sweeping hordes, very few Ork escorts can compete for the sheer devastation the savage can cause.

 **Ravager Attack Ship**

Size: 1.6 KM long, 0.6 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: 3-4 g

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: 1 Gunz Batterys, 2 Torpedo tubes (frontally mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: N/A

Lore: The Ravager is a crude attempt by Ork war-bosses to emulate the success of the Cobra Class Destroyer. They feature more powerful engines than most Ork escorts, and a set of torpedo tubes. The torpedoes they fire are notoriously unreliable and slow, and often as much a threat to Ork shipping as to the opponents if they can even hit anything, but they make up for any shortcomings with their sheer size and destructive potential.

In the past, such ships where fairly rare, Ork warbosses would deploy them in large screening hordes along with other escort types. The Ravager almost always proved to be a detriment to such formations, rarely adding to the potency of the horde but would often destroy other Ork vessels in great numbers.  
The escort was first deployed in great numbers by the legendary warboss Ghazghkull Thraka during the 2nd War of Armageddon, who used them to great effect in direct emulation of Imperial tactics by dividing the Ravagers up into smaller groups and directing them at the largest Imperial vessels. This proved far more effective, and demonstrated the strengths of the Ravager to other warbosses and Imperial admirals. Crippling Imperial battle-groups, forcing Battlefleet Armageddon to adopt a policy of skirmishes and recycling lost vessels, such was the attrition rate due to the sudden increase efficiency of the Imperial fleet.  
The Ravager has since become a far more common and feared opponent, a couple of Ravagers able to reap more devastation than almost any other Ork escort from any range.


	3. Ork Light Cruisers

**Ork Light Cruiser**  
 _The New Breed_

 **Lite Kroozer**

Size: 4.1-5.1 KM long, 1.6-2.1 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: Varies

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: Varies

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: Varies

Lore: After the 2nd war of Armageddon, vast space-borne grave yards of crippled or destroyed vessels littered the entirety of the Armageddon sector. Both Battlefleet Armageddon and Ork stranglers spending much of the time between the 2nd and 3rd wars for Armageddon picking through these vast treasure troves for salvageable parts and warships. It is thanks to this that battlefleet Armageddon was able to recover its losses relatively quickly, despite the high attrition, and built up an impressive arsenal of Armageddon Class Battlecruisers in readiness for future Ork invasions. But the Orks also created a new breed of warship from the scrap yards.

Ork freebooters and escort captains lurking in the scrap yards made miniaturised Kill-Kroozers from the hulls of damaged or destroyed Dauntless and Endeavour Light Cruisers. The Ork captains cunningly able to manoeuvre these more nimble Ork capital ships into positions they would not be expected to attack from, and unleashing more firepower than Imperial scouting patrols would be able to handle alone. Disappearing back into the depths of the junk before a response could be assembled. Ghazghull, recognising the tactical value in these warships, began reshaping the Ork fleet in preparation for the next awaited offensive on Armageddon.

When the 3rd War for Armegeddon broke out, hundreds of Ork Lite Kroozers poured out of the junk fields and emerged from the Warp, supporting the massive Ork assault spear-headed by 12 Ork Space Hulks. Battlefleet Armageddon was caught almost totally by surprise by the sheer scale of the attack, the Ork Lite Kroozers almost doubling the number of effective capital ships in the Ork fleet, each one able to easily match any Imperial light cruiser for firepower and were much more durable.  
However, for the Armageddon Battlecruisers they were little more than target practice, as each was slow to manoeuvre for its apparent 'light' status and poorly protected against battleship-calibre weaponry. But the Lite Kroozers debut proved a deadly surprise for Battlefleet Armageddon, and the wider Imperium.


	4. Ork Cruisers

**Ork Cruisers**  
 _The Hunched Back-Bone_

 **Kill-Kroozer**

Size: 5.1-6 KM long, 1.8-2.7 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: Varies

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: Varies

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: N/A

Lore: The Kill-Kroozer is the most common Ork capital ship known to the Imperium, and the most commonly sighted Ork vessel larger than an escort. These vessels often have very little in common with each other beyond being generally a similar size and lacking any sort of carrier capacity. These warships are quite simply the husk of a destroyed or abandoned Imperial cruiser that was been outfitted with additions weapons and and armour, at the expense of reliability and manoeuvrability. They are simplistic, durable, and exceptionally dangerous warships to face without access to heavy firepower.

These ships were a constant menace to Imperial shipping during peace time, and are even more terrifying when operating in packs during Ork invasions, able to overpower most Imperial cruisers in a close-quarter engagement and shrug off blows that would be crippling to a ship of a similar size range in the Imperial Navy. Some gained truly fearsome repuations during the Gothic War, where Kill-Kroozers became an almost daily threat to convoy. One Ork Kill Kroozer, the _Butcher_ , securing dozens of kills on Imperial Navy warships and transports: with 17 transports, 12 escrots, 5 light cruisers and the Lunar Class Cruiser _Admiral Lenox_ confirmed among its victims.

The main weakness of the Kill-Kroozer is the short effective range for its size. Experienced captains, when not tied to protecting a convoy, can easily open the distance on the lumbering beast and slowly destroy the large cruiser from a safe distance. As such, the Kill-Kroozer very quickly becomes less dangerous and more vulnerable the more its opponent is able to manoeuvre.

 **Terror Ship**

Size: 5.1-6 KM long, 1.8-2.7 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: Varies

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: Varies

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: Varies

Lore: The Terror-Ship is a variant of Ork Kill-Kroozer that dispenses with some of its firepower to make way for a crude form of void-craft servicing. These ships retain much of the characteristics of the traditional Ork-Kill Kroozer, but also play host to large swarms of Ork void vessels of all shapes and sizes. This makes them far more dangerous than their more common cousins, as this carrier capacity helps negate much of the range weakness that the standard Kill-Kroozer suffers from, allowing them to effectively engage a wider range of opponents.

A classic example of a Terror Ship attack was the attack on Mirrobel base in the Cyclopse Cluster of the Gothic Sector, where a pair of Terror ships were able to overwhelm the station, two light cruisers and several Imperial escorts with their combined firepower and strike craft capacity. Forcing the Imperial vessels into retreat and destroying the station for minimal damage in return.


	5. Ork Battlecruisers

**Ork Battle Cruisers**  
 _Battleships in-waiting_

 **Hammer Class Battle-Kroozer**

Size: 6-7.9 KM long, 2.4-3.4 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: Varries

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: Varries

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: Varries

Lore: A Hammer Class Battle-Kroozer in Imperial Space in generally a terrible omen, and a sight that makes the blood of even the bravest and most determined Imperial captains run cold. These truly gargantuan vessels are the largest 'standard' warships in use by the orks and are regarded as the ultimate evolution of the Ork Kill-Kroozers and Terror Ships.

Each ships armament can vary as widely as their size. Some feature massed banks of looted Macro Batteries and Bombardment Cannons, some feature captured and modified Ork variants of the mighty Nova Cannon, and some are merely vast armoured shells for black clouds of Ork Strike Craft to pour out from. As horrifying as one Hammer is as an opponent, all Hammers normally herald the coming of more Orks, and sightings of them normally indicates the coming of an Ork Waaagh as an Ork captain able to upgrade their kroozer to such an extent will also have grown to such extent through fighting that they themselves will have built up a large following as a budding warboss. A Hammer is rarely found without a considerable escort of smaller kroozers and attack ships.

However, such ambition rarely ends there. At Armageddon, at least 4 Hammer Class Battle-kroozers grew into the size and firepower range of true battleships during the 3rd war for Armageddon, and dozens of Hammer Battle-Kroozers were present as part of the vast horde that attacked Battlefleet Armageddon. Each Hammer dwarfing the Armageddon Class Battlecruisers and proving a dire threat to the survival and success of the Imperial Navy in all theatres.


	6. Ork Battleships

**Ork Battleships**  
 _Heralds of the Waaagh_

 _Deathdeala_

 _Slamblasta_

Size: 8+ KM long, 3-4+ KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: Varries

Defences: Variable armour, Looted Void Shield.

Standard Main Armament: Varries

Standard secondary Armament: Shootas, Missiles and Kannonz (broadside, belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary Craft: Varries

Lore: The Orks lack a 'Class' of warship that can be called a battleship, but given the nature of Ork ships, constantly growing due to upgrades and tinkering from battle to battle, many individual Ork vessels can reach the point where they are classed as battleships. But the first four warships to be recognised as battleships were Deathdeala, Slamblasta, Kroolboy and Gorbag's revenge.

The largest and oldest of the Ork 'battleships' is the venerable Deathdeala. Originally spotted in the Armageddon sector as a Hammer Class Battle-Kroozer captained by Warboss Urgutz Dregrak, the ship gradually grew in size and power, growing eclipse the size and firepower of an Imperial Retribution over the course of 30 years of fighting a running battle with various battlegroups of battlefleet Armageddon. Gaining many new weapon batteries, including bombardment cannons. During the 3rd War of Aramgeddon, Deathdeala unleashed a devastating series of orbital strikes on the planet Armageddon, doing as much damage to Ork units as it did to Imperial defenders. This would also be the end of Warboss Dregrak's leadership over the vessel, as Deathdeala would be hijacked by Herman Von Strab just as the warboss teleported down the planet. Stranding the warboss on Armageddon with the angry victims of his bombardments.

The next most prominent was Slamblasta, which had an armament consisting almost entirely of Zzap cannons, mostly due to the fact the ship was originally built on the hulk of a derelict Gothic Class Cruiser. These Zzap weapons were extremely unreliable, even by Ork standards, and were often prone to mis-fire, but a broadside of them could vaporise nearly any opponent. When the Slamblasta reached battleship status, it was a truly terrifying opponent, able to take apart opposing battleships from great range with ease. The Slamblasta served a critical role in the 3rd war for Armageddon, able to cripple the system's defences from long range in a series of raids, permitting the Ork main force to proceed with relatively minor losses.

Kroolboy was known to Battlefleet Gothic the longest of all the Ork battleships. It started life as a Terror ship, raiding and terrorising imperial shipping in and around the Armageddon Sector. Slowly growing into a Hammer Battlekroozer and eventually beyond into an Ork battleship. Either knowingly or unknowingly, this ship would weaken Imperial early response forces and lul local commanders into believing Ork activity in the area was merely piracy, allowing for a crippling element of surprise from the Orks during the 3rd War for Armageddon. The Kroolboy still haunts the battlefleet to this day.

Gorbag's Revenge was built on the hull of a captured Dominator Class Cruiser, and features the mighty Nova Cannon, vast arrays of weapon batteries and huge hanger bays capable of unleashing Ork strike craft in their thousands. The ship remains one of the most powerful and reliable assets in the Ork arsenal in the Armageddon sector, the ship having an impressive kill tally including dozens of Imperial capital ships.


End file.
